DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-107, August 11, 2001 edited by Glenn Hauser, wghauser@hotmail.com {Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. For restrixions and searchable 2001, 2000 contents archive see} http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/Dxldmid.html [NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn] We are slowly catching up with fixing up typos, etc., in recent DXLD issues. As of the posting of this issue, these are the latest issues reposted at our website. Usual remark about using these instead of original versions, if possible. http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/dxld1101.txt http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/dxld1102.txt DXERS CALLING Dear DXers and SWLs, DXers Calling has been updated with the latest programs from DXing with Cumbre hosted by Marie Lamb, World of Radio Hosted by Glen[n] Hauser and South Pacific DX report hosted Paul Ormandy. They can be found at http://www.geocities.com/nri3 http://www.angelfire.com/myband/tjg or simply go to http://www.live365.com and insert who13 or dxers calling or shortwave in the search function on top of all their web pages! A second DXers Calling service comprising of Amateur Radio News from WIA VK4'S Graham Kemp and also some world amateur news, can be found now as QNEWS or who14 or dxers calling2. Have any comments about QNEWS on live365.com? You can also access QNEWS/WIA at http://www.wia.org.au/vk4 If you would like to access both streams direct, click on your winamp icon and bring it up on your desktop, then press CTRL L, and type these URLs into the window, dxers calling http://166.90.143.144:21532 QNEWS http://166.90.143.158:13558 Any comments to nri3@yahoo.com.au Thanks (Tim Gaynor, DXers Calling, August 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. Subject: Radio Liberty Belorussian The IBB SDS schedule server is unattainable right now but at least a schedule for the extended Belorussian broadcasts without technical details is available from the RFE/RL website. Mediumwave usage is shown for 9 and a half hours rather than full 10 hours a day, not limited to the Radio Baltic Waves outlet on 612 but also including 1188 (Marcali/Hungary) for 3 hours. On the other hand I miss Riga- Ulbroka 576 in this schedule, only omitted here or really no longer in use? Most shortwave frequencies have also changed, not allowing to take sites from earlier schedule releases. Monitoring results: At 1850 7190 strong and with a pronounced delay (almost a second) behind weaker 15565, 11730 not audible. At 1900 11865 strong, 9750 weak, 9530 not audible. Both 1188 and 9750 second- long delay behind 11865. Regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, August 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 0300-0400: 1188 0300-0500: 6170, 7295, 9635 0400-0500: 612 1300-1430: 612 1500-1700: 612, 7295, 11725, 15480 1700-1900: 612, 7190, 11730, 15565 1900-2100: 612, 1188, 9530, 9750, 11865 retyped by Ludwig from http://www.rferl.org/bd/schedules/be-schedule.html (DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM. Extremely low power test from R Borderhunter 15795 LSB, 2230-2310 UT 10 Aug, R Borderhunter conducted an extremely low power DX test. Frans dropped the power in increments over a 40 minute period. 25 watts @ 2230 Fair/good copy. 10 watts @ 2240 Fair copy. 1 watt @ 2245. weak/fair copy. No problem understanding every word. 500 milliwatt-1 watt at 2245-2302. Weak but still I could copy every word. 100-250 milliwatts Very weak, but still in there. Could not copy every word, but did copy "100 milliwatts. This was the absolute minimum power he could transmit, and still I had a very weak copy in Nashville, TN USA. I have a tape recording of this test, as proof. RX: Drake SW8 with MFJ amplified preselector, which gives 10 db signal boost. ANT: 30 meter sloper, with 3 ground radials 15 meters each. Thanks to R Borderhunter for providing this opportunity at very low power DXing. Thanks to pirate operators in general for enhancing our hobby! 73s, (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 6170 Radio Cultura 0840 Aug 7, strong in Portuguese with all spoken program (Ian Cattermole, New Zealand, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Note previous item that this was off the air/or only 4 hours a day including 5-6 am local, where 0840 UT fits (gh, DXLD) ** BURUNDI. [Re reactivation] 6140 is until 1900 occupied by Wertachtal (DW English; continuous program which otherwise goes out via satellite) and from 1900 by YLE Pori. No chance here (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 5, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CANADA. I have logged an RCI TX mixing product on 15035 several times over the last few months. It is the result of 15170 and 15305 mixing. First noted here on 26 April of this year. I have offered RCI a list of spurs I've received here, some of which are quite annoying, but they have not responded. It is hard to believe RCI monitoring is still active these days. 73s, (David Hodgson, TN, harmonics via DXLD) ** CHINA. 6185, China Huayi BC Co. 1305-1339 Aug 5, with best ever signal hrd on a morning when all Chinese stations were well above normal quality. Programming was light orchestral and classical selections with occasional man and woman announcers. During several anmts the same classical piece was played in background - I could not ID the piece (need to brush up on classical recognition). Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" was hrd at 1327.5. Easy listening S- 5 level w/ some light splash from Japan on 6190 and fluttery QSB. I guess this will motivate me to finally send a report (Bruce Churchill, CA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CHINA. The latest schedules of various services of China National Radio, including regional and minority, along with audio links, and in some cases, program schedules can be found at : http://www2.starcat.ne.jp/~ndxc/cn/cnr.htm Most recent seems to be an update to Tibetan services (Nagoya DXers Circle August 12 via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. A great article on Falun Dafa/Gong is brought to our attention on the msn.com homepage August 10: http://slate.msn.com/Subcultures/01-08-09/Subcultures.asp (via gh, DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. RFPI`s 21815-USB, inactive for a few weeks, noted back on air at 0417 UT check August 11, \\ 15049, but 7445 was missing. The two higher frequencies also heard the next morning around 1200 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Finalement, c'est le 13 août prochain que débuteront les émissions de Radio Havane Cuba sur Internet. Mais ces diffusions seront en espagnol dans un premier temps (courriel de la station - 3 août 2001) [courriel is not in some dictionaries, but means e-mail. RHC will start webcasting August 13, only in Spanish at first -- gh] Radio Havane Cuba confirme que les émissions en créole ont été suspendues pendant 15 jours (NDR : et remplacées par les programmes en français) en raisons des congés d'été. La station espère que ses émissions en audio sur Internet seront disponibles avant la fin de l'année. Quant aux émissions en allemand (NDR : dont certaines publications avaient annoncé le lancement pour fin 2000), il n'en est pas question pour le moment. Radio Havane Cuba avait réalisé des émissions expérimentales vers l'Afrique il y a quelques mois, car l'un des grands projets de la station est de recommencer à émettre vers ce continent. Cuba y a en effet beaucoup de médecins et a fait de grandes propositions de coopération par l'intermédiaire des Nations Unies sur le SIDA (courriel de la station - 1er août 2001) (les informations sont issues de http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jm.aubier via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. DX Information from the British DX Club (BDXC- UK). Having reduced the utility QRM using the AOR 7030+'s Passband Shift facility, found Radio Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial from Malabo on 6249.35 kHz from tune-in 2035 UT on 10th August. Talk in Spanish, presumed news at 2100, and usual offering of African and hi-life music. Listened to them until well past 2300 (between 2200-2300 almost entirely music with very few announcements). Always thought Malabo signed-off at 2200. Seemed to have gone by 2330 re-check. Reception never quite good enough to make anything of the speech (i.e. for an ID), but reasonable enough to enjoy the tunes. Tony Rogers Birmingham - UK AOR 7030+/LW The above information may only be reproduced if full credit is given to the original source, contributor AND to the British DX Club (BDXC-UK). (via DXLD) ** ERITREA. Radio UNMEE announced two addresses for listeners letters in a recent program. They also said that they accept letters in English. Radio UNMEE, ECA Building, P.O. Box 3001, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Radio UNMEE, P.O. Box 5805, Asmara, Eritrea. Station background information and their schedule can be found at- http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/unmee/pr27.htm (via Hans Johnson, Aug 4, Cumbre DX Aug 11, via DXLD) [= United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea -gh] Viz: Radio UNMEE`s programme can be heard on Channel I, 945 KHz MW, from 13:30 to 14:30 on Tuesdays, and on Channel II, 837 KHz MW, from 14:00 to 15:00. At the same times, the programme can be heard on SW, 41 meter band, Channel I, at 7100 KHz, and Channel II, at 7175 KHz. The programmes are repeated every Wednesday from 10:00-11:00 on all channels. (website above still dated January 17, 2001; times presumably local = UT+3; so when and where did you hear them, Hans? - -gh, DXLD) ** GEORGIA. Suite à un contact téléphonique avec la station, le service français de Radio Géorgie (qui a fêté ses deux ans d'existence le 14 juillet) émet toujours entre 0800 et 0830 TU sur 11910 kHz (contrairement à ce qu'indiquent les bases de l'ILG). Cependant, la réception est impossible actuellement en raison de la présence du service arabe de la Voix de l'Amérique. Il y a à peu près un an, la station avait un projet de site Internet, mais cette idée ne semble plus avoir le vent en poupe. De plus, si des émissions devaient être diffusées en Real Audio, ce serait le programme anglais dans un premier temps (contact téléphonique avec la station - 27 juillet 2001) les informations sont issues de http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jm.aubier [R. Georgia has plans to webcast, only in English at first] ** INDIA. There are some periods when AIR regional stations rebroadcast news and other programs produced in New Delhi, in English and Hindi. Quite often network news inserts appear in the middle of the hour UTC (that is top of the hour Indian Standard Time). During Indian local evenings, relay time is extended. At my location, it has no sense to monitor AIR stations in summer, but I have some data on this matter collected during last two winter seasons. I managed to discover the following relayed blocks of New Delhi programs: News in Hindi at 0030 and in English at 0035 (5 min each). News in English at 1230 and in Hindi at 1235. News in Hindi at 1515-1530 (some stations transmit an extended bulletin from 1500). News in English at 1530-1545. News in English at 1730 and in Hindi at 1735 (5 min each). Many stations carry musical and other programs from Delhi between 1545 (or 1600) and 1730. Most of them sign off at 1740, after transmitting last news bulletins of the day. Low-frequency propagation is improving now, and I'm planning to make a research on actual situation with New Delhi relays in India. Fresh monitoring data will be published in the next edition of my Kvadrat bulletin (in Russian). (Vladimir Kovalenko, Tomsk, Russia, Signal August 4 via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. Last couple of days, we have been getting excellent grayline reception of Indonesia on 9525 in the mornings at around 1015 UT with easy-listening music. It changes over to Chinese at 1030, and is usually quite clear over the noise levels. No discernible ID in EE, so this is technically a "presumed" logging. I hear this on the R5000 using a long-wire Slinky antenna, so for once you don't need an R390A attached up to a mile-long Beverage in the middle of the country to pick it up (for a change!). (Bob Stewart, Ontario?, August 10, ODXA via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. Re 17520 station: I believe that this is KRSI, ex 15690. Heard with the same pattern I heard on 15690. Sudden carrier just before 1530 Aug 5, then into the same instrumental music that I heard on 15690. A bit of dead air after the music and then into sudden talk in Farsi. No jamming I could detect at this time/date. Can anyone confirm/deny this is via Jülich? Not appearing on their schedule, but perhaps they don't want to publicize (Hans Johnson, TX, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. CLANDESTINE from CIS? to MIDDLE EAST (Cumbre Dx follow up) Denge Mezopotamya or Voice of Mezopotamya: Per Ludo Maes at the TDP, their current schedule is: 15230 0800-0959; 11530 ex 15770 1400-1600. Target area is the whole of Kurdistan including regions in Turkey, Iraq and Iran (via Johnson, Aug 4, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. CLANDESTINE from ??? to IRAQ. 9960, R Bopeshawa, August 01, 1505-1530 Talk and songs in Arabic, 1530-1600* Talk and songs in Kurdish. Two IDs at 1559 "Radio Bopeshawa". Poor modulation. QRM from 9955. 33443. Not heard Sat, Sun and Tue (Anker Petersen, Denmark, Cumbre DX August 11 via DXLD) ** LAOS. After two weeks of frequent but unsuccessful checks, I noted Laos back on 7145 again today. They must have switched on around 0130 and were still going strong past 0315, but apparently had disappeared by 0515. Once again this frequency was carrying the main national sce //576 and 6130. No audio breaks observed this time. I seem to remember that the previous apparent test was also on a Tuesday morning (Alan Davies, Thailand, Aug 7, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** LIBYA. In one of its Arabic broadcasts today, V. of Africa announced the following Email address: africavoice@hotmail.com Now as we all know, Libya is not so open as a country, but, as many DX-ers' experience shows, Email can be such an effective way of getting into real contact with a station (there was also an example about Bhutan, I believe, in the latest Cumbre issue). (Christian Mocanu, Romania, Aug 9, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** MEXICO. XERTA has changed its frequency again; I have tuned it in on 4815, yesterday (August 3) At 0300 in Spanish with a religious program. 0500*. (Héctor García Bojorge, DF, Aug 4, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 4815 supposedly the nominal per previous HGB report (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO. Radio UNAM is only broadcasting on MW and FM band (Bojorge, Aug 4, ibid.) Ex 9600 (Johnson Aug 4, ibid.) ** NEW ZEALAND. Re: NZ has only one high-powered SW transmitter, so what you hear on RNZI is it, sometimes relaying RNZ (domestic network), which I don`t think is called R. National like in Australia (gh, DXLD) It`s called National Radio (John A. Figliozzi, NY, DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Per the High Adventure website, the station in northern Nigeria is under construction. The shortwave station will initially cover Nigeria. Within a few years, they plan to have a more powerful transmitter here that will cover most of the continent (via Johnson Aug 4, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** PALAU. High Adventure Ministries: Is anyone hearing 9985 during the 1100 hour? Untraced here, but I believe I heard this site at 1528 on 17550 with a Christian program in English. Had been off due to typhoon damage (Hans Johnson, TX, Aug 4/5, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 4795, Buryat Radio carrying Radio Rossii 1220 Aug 4, weak but able to // it to both 7320 and 11840. Weak, and stupid radar signal didn't make it any easier. Peaked about 1223 and rapid fade after that (Hans Johnson, TX, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** SEALAND. NPR`s Scott Simon visited recently and a 17+ minute report appeared at 1240 UT Saturday August 11 on Weekend Edition, accompanied by visuals on the website. See/read: http://www.npr.org/programs/wesat/features/2001/sealand/081101.sealand.html Archive audio: http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/wesat/20010811.wesat.07.rmm (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. DX Information from the British DX Club (BDXC-UK). Following a recent tip from Ray Merrall (DSWCI DX Window via BC-DX), Sudan National Broadcasting Corp heard on 10th August from tune-in 0310 UT on 7200 kHz. Better than co-channel Russia by 0330 when time pips and ID heard as "Huna Omdurman ....." - SIO 333 (Tony Rogers, Birmingham - UK AOR 7030+/LW, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** THAILAND. I'm hearing R. Thailand English Service at 1900-2000 on 7155 (not 7160 as mentioned in BC-DX #530) with good reception - heard when checking on Monday 6th and Thursday 9th August. Also strong reception here on 9680 in English from 2030-2045 (Alan Roe, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIMOR EAST [non]. AUSTRALIA. RA Preview, UT Saturday August 11: 0205 ****NEW TIME**** Background Briefing - "Walk a Mile in My Shoes". "I'm José Ramos Horta and my country, East Timor, is taking its final steps towards independence. Come with me as I travel my country to hear just how our hard-won democracy is taking shape." Visit the program's web site straight after the program to find pictures of José Ramos Horta's journey. Follow the links from: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/ [T;%] (John Figliozzi`s RA previews, swprograms via DXLD) Evidently no other repeats of this. Lasts some 50 minutes; touches upon radio stations there. Audio should be available via above website. Remember this José is Portuguese, so do NOT pronounce it like Spanish or Indian! ``zho-ZEH`` (gh) ** TURKEY. BBC and DW local broadcasts are banned in Turkey. Here's my translation of a news report from the Russian news service Lenta.Ru dated August 10, 2001: According to the German News Agency DPA, broadcasting of BBC and Deutsche Welle in Turkish was banned on Thursday. This decision was taken by the Highest Council of Radio and TV RTUK late Wednesday night. According to the Council's Chairman Nuri Kayis the British and German stations broke the country's Law on Mass Media. Kayis said that in the near future he will send the Council's decision about ending of stations' broadcasting to the court. BBC's representative in Turkey Mike Gardner said that his station continues to broadcast to Turkey and that the broadcasters and leadership of BBC's Turkish Service were informed about RTUK's decision (via Sergei Sosedkin, IL, DXLD) ** U K [non]. Glenn- No trace of BBC here in Reno, Nevada on either 11,810 or 11,835 before and after 0100 UT 8/10. They are on 5,975. DW on 11,810 at 0100 as usual. Have they dropped transmission to Mexico or an I just confused about the time of the broadcasts? (Alan Johnson, N4LUS, NV, UT August 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Alan, Checked as soon as I got this, 0237 UT -- 11835 off, I agree. Must be a problem at WYFR: RTI on 5950 and 9680 also missing. But WYFR itself 9505 is there. One could also try to track down all the other current frequencies of WYFR. I guess Delano will come on with BBC 11835 at 0300... [it did, carrier on around 0257] 73, (Glenn, DXLD) ** U K [non]. Re DXLD 1-106: WHYY in Philadelphia broadcasts on 90.9, not 91.5, even though they do announce as "91FM" (Joe Hanlon in Philadelphia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. LPFM New Web Site I was disappointed to find the message on Christian Community FM, as you also were, about their new structure as a "trade organization". I also want to state that I don't consider myself a role model by any means, but it certainly doesn't seem "Christian" to me, when a website takes freely available information, compiles it, and charges an exorbitant fee for it. I mostly agree with your analysis above, except that we won't be forced to pay, as I have discovered a new LPFM info site that is much better (IMO) than CCFM ever was, and it's free. It even includes coverage maps for LPFM stations that have been assigned call letters. The new site is called "LPFM Station Data Base" and it's at http://www.stratuswave.net/~bryan27/lpfm/ It provides virtually 100 percent coverage of all LPFM stations (as far as I can tell) and coverage maps of stations that have been assigned call letters. Something of interest to TV DXers may be the TV DMA guide maintained by the same individual at http://www.stratuswave.net/~bryan27/tvdma/ It indexes TV stations by Nielsen DMA. (Something for your Oklahoma Broadcasting News page.) Looking at the Oklahoma page http://www.stratuswave.net/~bryan27/lpfm/ok.html I see that there are maps for both of Enid's LPFMs. KLGB: http://www.stratuswave.net/~bryan27/lpfm/klgb.gif KUAL: http://www.stratuswave.net/~bryan27/lpfm/kual.gif I hope you find the above interesting and useful. Feel free to use it in DXLD or any of your other publications. -- (Johnathan Grant, August 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Thanks for the suggestions [on BBC programmes to relay]. Ship project is still in the works. The vessel named the "Katie" is lying in Boston harbor. As soon as we raise about $30,000.00 we shall fit her with a studio, refit the interior, and then commence broadcasting via WBCQ. As you know our main backer backed out in June so things have been on hold. This is not an unexpected thing. Shipborne radio projects seem to have this problem of raising funding. In any event, we really want to do this project. It would be a great promotional thing for shortwave radio. A floating studio promoting the medium --- traveling from port to port broadcasting good programs via WBCQ. Cheers, (Allan Weiner, WBCQ Central, August 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. CLANDESTINE? PIRATE? 7001, Radio Free Texas. A station IDing as above was noted during local evenings in June (Potter, IARUMS bulletin Aug via Johnson, Cumbre DX Aug 11 via DXLD) ** U S A. CLANDESTINE from/to USA. UPR Steve Anderson is a government plant. So far he has obtained great results with his pseudo macho dribble. He just took a call from Charlie Puckett (obviously it was staged, because for past couple of nights, Anderson has been dropping comments regards some major militia info he would be announcing) and according to Anderson, Puckett said that a major split had occurred in the Kentucky State Militia and it was due to Puckett taking the mic at Anderson's the other nite. Anderson's effort is working to cause rifts in the militia. I provided twenty two years to the U. S. military --- dedicated to true patriotism (if that is a word anymore) in defense of the good old U.S.A. And, although I now am retired and sit back and do a lot of watching and listening, there are millions of vets in our society that truly ARE patriots. I cannot speak for them, but I have a deep- hearted feeling that they "to the core" are patriots and would find little or no substance in many of the UPR comments. Me personally, I find the macho comments frequently made on "United Patriot Radio" a bit too Walter Mittish for me. But then, "freedom of speech" makes the world work (Walt Williams, MI, Aug 4, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** URUGUAY. 6155, Banda Oriental, 0205 Aug 6, definitely hrd LA mx and SS talk here by female announcer. Clear "Banda Oriental" ID at 0214. Had to use USB to get away from 6150. Noticeable degradation around 0220. Heard anthem or similar at 0257 on another night this week with broadcast ending at 0300. After listening to this stn the past week, the best chance for this one seems after 0200 rather than 0100 (freq is clear at 0100-0130 and 0200-0300). (John Sgrulletta, NY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** URUGUAY. 9620, SODRE Should be 24h still. Try overnight between Sat and Sun. At this time, the operator who is at charge has been a defendant of SW and has always been keen to switch it on (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, Aug 5, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ###